a wee walk

I was off work a couple of weeks ago because my M.E. and Lupus had flared up. When this happens my main thing is to sleep a lot and work up to being able to walk a couple of miles. Just a stroll, but if I can walk to the village and back then I know I am getting better. It took me to the second week before I managed it but when I did it was lovely weather and I was in shorts and t-shirt.

The walk I do to get myself back on track is up through the university campus, through Mine Wood and up to the village. It is a good walk for recovery because there are several places you can stop and several places where it is easy to turn around. You are never far away from the bus route so there is a get out if the fatigue kicks in.

I start off walking through the campus - there is a lovely walk around the duck pond and if I have some bread around the house they get a wee snack.




From the edge of campus I can just see the riding school (white building) and the edge of Mine Wood.


When you get up towards the riding school there is a wee bench that is an absolute sun trap and is a welcome break from the steep road.



From the edge of Mine Wood you can see out across to the Wallace Monument and also across the village and out to the Ochils. My house is just below the Monument so I like this view as it makes me feel I have done a fair bit of walking by this point.


There are two walks you can do through Mine Wood - they both bring you out roughly at the same place but the lower walk is easier and downhill most of the way. The upper walk takes longer and is steeper. It goes up and round the back of the back of the woods. On the longer walk there is a big uprooted tree - good for a wee pause to catch your breath.


They bring you out at the back of the village and you follow the walk down through to the river and the back of the local chippie.

I then have two choices - if it is a very nice day I get a takeaway picnic lunch from the deli and sit by the river. If it is nice but not quite picnic weather I go and get the artichoke, feta and beetroot salad from Clive Ramsays and sit in their wee outdoor bit.

Then it's the walk back along - I am usually pretty exhausted by this point so instead of trekking back through the wood I walk through the village along the main road.

I managed this walk three times before I went back to work and on the last walk I did the upper version so treated myself to an icecream from Corrieri's as a reward - not sure that's on the healthy eating list...